“This woman is so old her views are redundant. She hasn't designed anything since the internet. Why do we need her?”

The anonymous feedback was recorded in an online survey that every student enrolled in her design subject was asked to fill out.

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Universities use these surveys to review the quality of teaching and subjects, but staff say they are increasingly being used as tools of abuse.

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A recent survey by the National Tertiary Education Union found that 60 per cent of its members had been subjected to disrespectful and abusive comments in student evaluations.

The most common of these comments related to a person’s competency to teach a subject, followed by their gender, cultural background and spoken English, age, personality and political views.

While many universities censor student feedback to eliminate swear words, staff have been told they are “too hot” to teach a subject, chastised for having an accent and one woman was told to “speak up bitch”.

Dr Clerke has received plenty of hurtful feedback over the years, but the comments about her age and credibility hit her hard.

“The next semester I didn't do any lecturing,” she said.

“I didn’t want to do any lecturing because then I’m subjected to criticism because there are not enough pictures, or I didn’t say the right thing or I am too old. It absolutely affected me.”

Dr Clerke, who teaches at the University of NSW and University of Technology Sydney, said undergraduate students were “particularly vicious”.

“There is often a sense of entitlement,” she said. “They pay a lot of money and some feel like they have the right to say whatever they like. They can treat us as the face of the enemy rather than people with feelings.”

The union is calling for a rethink of the surveys, which students are asked to fill out for each subject at the end of semester. They are comprised of scores and written feedback.

The National Tertiary Education Union's national president Jeannie Rea said the abuse was making staff feel distressed, angry and physically ill.

“The last thing we want is for staff to not feel confident,” she said.